I’ve finally finished the baby’s nursery! I had so much fun with my little projects and making her space girly, but still colorful and playful.

I started off sticking to a color palette, but it was making the room feel too contrived for me. It was looking like a room for an adult, only with little furniture. When I allowed more colors to make an appearance, focusing on a bright coral, the room became more playful and childlike.

Before I get to the projects, I’ll give you a little tour:

Now that you’ve had the tour, I’ll show you how I put my projects together!

In the room:  chair  |  knobs  |  flamingo piñata  |  giraffe  |  inflatable globe  | shelf  |  newborn dress: Gymboree  |  coral baskets: Hobby Lobby  |  cloth baskets: Target  |  Bird print: I designed it from a vector I purchased. (I’m sorry I can’t share it to download because I don’t have distribution rights.)

Nursery projects

After I took all the boy’s toys, prints, art, and curtains out of the room, the canvas was pretty blank.

So I got to work with these…

Wooden initial

I painted initials for both my boys, and I wanted to do the same for our daughter. I found this wooden one at Michaels. With a 40 percent off coupon, printed from online, I got it for $2.50.

I painted the edges with coral acrylic paint (America’s Coral Blush) and painted the front with my new favorite can of gold spray paint which seems to have no bottom (see more gold projects here).

 

 Paper mache boxes

I paid $10 for all three of these paper mache pieces — house and two boxes — from Hobby Lobby during a 50 percent off sale. I painted the house with acrylic paints left over from this art project and then topped it with a layer of clear enamel spray paint.

I sprayed the boxes with white and gold spray paint. (I finally finished that gold can!) The white can of spray paint I bought was only $1, and now I know why. It took the whole can, plus a little extra I had in the garage, just to paint the bottoms of the two boxes. Next time I’ll invest in the $4 kind. It goes farther, coats better, and dries faster.

Overall, this was a cheap project and allowed me to customize my boxes just the way I wanted them. The only challenge is deciding on the colors!

 

Birdie branch

I also made a little birdie branch to put in the space above her closet. I found these sweet little birds at the Dollar Tree, two for $1, but you can find some at any craft store. Marcello cut me a nice sized branch, I hot glued them on, and poked some paper floral stems in for good measure. Now Luca wants one too!

 

Confetti decals

Confetti walls are one of my favorite projects. It’s so easy, cheap and packs a lot of punch! I cut out fabric circles (traced from the spray starch can) and stuck them to the wall with spray starch. Full instructions here.

 

Bed canopy

I love Ikea’s Mysig bed canopy ($15), but I wanted to add a girlier touch. I cut off the red and brown pendants as close to the seam as possible and replaced them with white and pink felt pieces. I traced the pieces I cut off onto the felt squares, cut them out. and hot glued them right on in no time.

Our local Ikea didn’t have any canopies in stock, so I paid more and bought this one on Amazon.

 

Pom pom curtains

Sewing pink pom pom trim on white Ikea curtains made for a fun detail. Full post here.

 

Make small rugs into one large rug

I sewed six small rugs into one large rug when I couldn’t find a colorful, affordable option. See full post here.

 

Placemat pillow

I found the perfect place for a sweet little pillow I made out of a $5 placemat (in 20 minutes!). See full post here.

For more fun kids’ rooms, check out my inspiration board.